Combination diving board,grab rail and mounting



June 23, 1970 BELLINSON ET AL 3,516,660

COMBINATION DIVING BOARD, GRAB RAIL AND MOUNTING Filed Sept. 25, 1968 INVENTOR. 24 .BEE/VA 120 5152.1. uvso/v BY f/EnueY P. You/VG.

United States Patent 3,516,660 COMBINATION DIVING BOARD, GRAB RAIL AND MOUNTING Bernard Bellinson, Sherman Oaks, and Henry R. Young,

Arleta, Calif., assignors to Marine Swimming Pool Equipment Co., North Hollywood, Calif., a corporation of California Filed Sept. 25, 1968, Ser. No. 762,591 Int. Cl. A63b /10 US. Cl. 272-66 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A pedestal having a cross-head provides a fulcrum support for a diving board on the center of the head and mounts a pair of grab rails at the ends of the head. The mounts for the grab rail are of the sleeve clamp type with a saddle attached to the cross-head and a cap clamping the rail to the saddle by way of a fastener bolt piercing the cap, rail, saddle and cross-head.

RELATED APPLICATION An application, Ser. No. 771,528, filed Oct. 29, 1968, is directed to the combination of the grab rail and a decorative panel suspended between legs of the grab rail.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The grab rails, of trapezoidal or equivalent loop form, have lower longitudinal rails secured in sleeve clamps which in turn are secured to the ends of the fulcrum bar crosshead of the mounting pedestal, the diving board being fulcrumed thereon between the grab rails.

THE PRIOR ART It has been common practice heretofore to fulcrum a diving board on a fulcrum bar cross-head of a pedestal or other suitable support; and it has also been common practice to associate grab rails in fixed, embracing relation to a diving board near its rear end.

OBJECTS OF INVENTION In general, the invention provides a combination of a diving board and a pair of grab rails, all mounted on a cross-head of a common support, the cross-head providing a fulcrum for the board, achieving the following specific objects in connection with the mounting of grab rails:

(l) Simplicity and ease of installation;

(2) Accuracy of positioning of grab rail relative to diving board;

(3) Elimination of independent mounting of grab rails to deck, separate from diving board mounting;

(4) Reduction of cost of installation;

(5 Ornamental appearance;

(6) Adjustability of grab rail positions;

(7) Ready demountability for re-plating or cleaning.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a diving board (shown fragmentarily) embodying our improved grabrail construction;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view of the same, with parts broken away and shown in section;

FIG. 3 is a detail sectional view taken on line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a detail sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a modified form of the invention.

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DESCRIPTION Referring now to the drawings in detail, and in particular to FIGS. 14, I have shown therein, as an example of one form in which the invention may be embodied, a diving board and grab rail assembly comprising, in general, a mount pedestal A having a fulcrum bar cross-head B; a diving board C having its rear end portion fulcrumed on fulcrum bar B and an intermediate portion yieldingly supported by a rebound spring D; and a pair of grab rails E mounted on the ends of fulcrum bar B by means of sleeve clamps F. For added safety and ornamental appearance, as an optional feature, a pair of guard panels G may be suspended within grab rails E as in FIG. 5.

Pedestal A is adapted to be mounted on a deck 9 by means of a flanged base 10 and a pair of anchor yokes 11, embedded in the deck. A pedestal body 12 rises from base 10 and has at its upper end a transverse channel 13 mounting the fulcrum bar B.

Fulcrum bar B includes a central body 15 which is secured in channel 13 by suitable means such as brazing or welding or by having the channel 13 cast around it. Fulcrum bar B further includes a pair of arms 16 of reduced diameter, projecting from the respective ends of central body 15 and provided with pairs of vertical apertures for the attachment bolts as hereinafter described.

Diving board C may be of any suitable constructionwood, or a composite of wood and plastic, having a central body 20 bearing against body 15 of fulcrum bar B and, optionally, a marginal overhanging skirt 21 which may extend into contact with the projecting arms 16 of the fulcrum bar. Attachment bolts 22 extend through registering apertures in board C and arms 16, and are secured and tightened by nuts 23 threaded on their lower ends and bearing against the undersides of arms 16.

Rebound spring D is a heavy coil spring, independently mounted on deck 9 as by means of a base 24 suitably attached to the deck.

Grab rails E are of closed-loop form, each having a lower horizontal mounting rail 25, a pair of legs 26 and 27 rising from its rear and forward ends respectively, and an upper hand rail 28, generally parallel to rail 25, bridging between the upper ends of legs 26, 27. Grab rails B may be of rectangular, parallelogram, trapezoidal or oval configuration, a preferred form, for ornamental effect, being the trapezoidal, approximately parallelogram form shown in the drawings.

The lower rails function as a means for mounting the grab rails E in the clamps F. The upper rail 28 serves as a handhold for a diver.

Clamps F each comprise a saddle 30 welded upon the end of a respective fulcrum arm 16, and a cap 31 having an integral stem 32, threaded at its lower end for attachment of a nut 33. Saddles 30 and cap 31 are of semicylindrical form and cooperatively provide a cylindrical sleeve embracing a portion of the lower member 25 of grab rail E, the stem 32 extending downwardly through registering apertures in rail 25, saddle 30 and arm 16. Nut 33, when tightened, draws the cap 31 and saddle 30 into clamping engagement with rail 25. Such clamping, assisted by stem 32, holds the respective grab rail rigidly in a vertical plane located by the engagement of stem 32 in the apertures in the connected parts and by the nesting of rail 25 in saddle 30, which is attached to its respective arm 16 with its major axis at right angles to arm 16 and thus parallel to the longitudinal axis of diving board C.

The assembly may include the ornamental guard panels G of FIG. 5, or the grab rails may be open as in FIG. 1. Panels G may be constructed and mounted as disclosed in said application Ser. No. 771, 528.

The parallelogram form of the grab rails, with legs 26 and 27 inclined upwardly and forwardly, places the hand rails 28 forwardly with reference to the fulcrum bar, such forward positions being more convenient for the diver than if the hand rails were centered over the fulcrum bar.

We claim:

1. A diving board and grab-rail assembly comprising, in combination:

a diving board;

a fulcrum bar including a central body to which said board is anchored, and an end portion projecting beyond a respective side of the board;

mounting means on the upper end of which said fulcrum bar is supported in a position extending transversly beneath said board;

a grab-rail including a hand rail at the top and a mounting rail at the bottom;

and a sleeve clamp comprising an upwardly opening saddle secured upon said projecting end portion of of the fulcrum bar and receiving said mounting rail, a cap bridging over said mounting rail in registering relation to said saddle such as to define therewith a sleeve embracing said mounting rail, and a fastener stem piercing said mounting rail, said saddle and said fulcrum bar end portion, and having at its lower end, means for securing said saddle and cap in clamping engagement with said mounting rail.

2. The combination defined in claim 1, wherein said grab rail is of closed loop form including forward and rearward legs connecting said hand rail to said mounting rail.

3. The combination defined in claim 2, wherein there 4 are two of said hand rails, disposed on respective sides of said board, and two of said clamps, secured to respective ends of said fulcrum bar and each mounting a respective handrail.

4. The combination defined in claim 3, including a pair of guard panels disposed within the respective grab rails, in the planes thereof, and secured thereto.

5. The combination defined in claim 1, wherein said mounting means comprises a pedestal having a base for anchorage to a deck, and a pedestal body rising from said base and having at its upper end a transverse channel in which said fulcrum bar body is seated and secured.

6. The combination defined in claim 1, including a fastener bolt piercing said fulcrum bar and said board and securing the board to said bar.

7. The combination defined in claim 1, wherein said grab rail is of approximately parallelogram form, with said legs inclined upwardly and forwardly toward the free end of the diving board.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/ 1964 Anthony 27266 9/1968 Rude 27266 

